# Post your closest "Jewish influence" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917 "2015-10-17T18:18:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/21 "2015-10-17T22:27:54Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’m Jewish. Bwah ha ha ha! And I was ‘influenced’ to quote you. Does this count? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/22 "2015-10-17T22:28:22Z")
My wife is Jewish, that is pretty close I would think. She is non-practicing and I am agnostic though baptized RCC but left church as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/23 "2015-10-17T22:44:29Z")
My mother and father. And when I was a teenager I influenced myself just like Alex Portnoy did. No organ meats though. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/24 "2015-10-17T22:59:45Z")
Most Jewish influence in my life has been negative. Cyber Citizen – 100% Jewish – made me unsuccessful in life. He bears all responsibility for all my wrong decisions. Cyber Citizen’s parents – made me get a PhD in Mathematics. Some Jewish influence in my life has been positive. Cyber Citizen’s Rabbi – gave me a lot of good advice some of which I took. Cyber Citizen’s Therapist (latest) – gave me a lot of good advice some of which I took. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/25 "2015-10-17T23:01:43Z")
I am a Conservadox Jew. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/26 "2015-10-17T23:11:54Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > [History of the Jews in Northern Ireland (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Northern_Ireland) > > Says there were only 335 Jews there in 2011. Ok, but are they Catholic Jews or Protestant Jews? ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/27 "2015-10-17T23:31:19Z")
My boss is Jewish and South African; the latter is pretty common here in NZ, the former not so. We butt heads occasionally but she’s pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/28 "2015-10-17T23:46:30Z")
My stepson is a (non-religious) Jew. Well, genetically speaking, half-Jewish. But he pretty well self-identifies as Jewish, bloodlines be damned. I dated a Jewish woman for a while who influenced my clothing and cooking quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/29 "2015-10-17T23:56:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Ok, but are they Catholic Jews or Protestant Jews? My sister (who, like me, is a Jew) spent a year in Ireland. Once, she found herself arguing politics at a party, and someone interrupted her to ask, apropos of her argument, if she was Catholic or Protestant. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/30 "2015-10-18T00:09:27Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > My sister (who, like me, is a Jew) spent a year in Ireland. Once, she found herself arguing politics at a party, and someone interrupted her to ask, apropos of her argument, if she was Catholic or Protestant. Old joke: An elderly lady goes to the post office to buy stamps. “I’d like twenty stamps, please.” “What denomination?” says the clerk. The old lady sighs. “Has it really come to that, then? Very well, I’ll take ten Catholic and ten Protestant.” ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/31 "2015-10-18T00:12:28Z")
Dad ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/32 "2015-10-18T00:29:26Z")
My nana was a nanny to a Jewish family. She was really fond of the little girl she cared for and gave my mum her unusual name. She also picked up the word schmozzle. I went out with a Jewish guy. He was adopted from a jewish adoption agency only when he eventually investigated his birth family it turned out he wasn’t actually Jewish by birth at all! ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/33 "2015-10-18T00:29:45Z")
I sort of follow the teachings of St Peter; I believe you have to know and respect Jewish tradition to really know and follow Christianity. That and the usual assortment of friends. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/34 "2015-10-18T00:45:46Z")
I’ve been told…by actual, card-carrying Jewish people, no less…that I would make an excellent Jew. My atheism has not been regarded as a negative factor. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/35 "2015-10-18T01:12:47Z")
To the best of my knowledge I’ve only known one Jewish person in my life. He was a friend of a friend, not an influence. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/36 "2015-10-18T01:48:35Z")
My great-grandmother was Jewish. When I found that out, I spent about three weeks wondering whether I could move to Israel (unemployment does that to a person), and caused me to create [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=612231). Ultimately, I ended up in Peterborough instead. A few weeks ago, my aunt said I have a ‘Jewish nose’. I’m not entirely sure what that means. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/37 "2015-10-18T01:55:05Z")
Me, my mother, and my mother’s side of the family. A whole lot of Jews. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/38 "2015-10-18T01:57:49Z")
I am Pagan, as well, and my primary mentor and spiritual advisor, as well as good friend, is Jewish (and also Pagan.) As far as my schedule goes, some of my Jewish patients influence that a lot. Friday afternoon home visits are not very welcome. 😉 One of my favorite (now former) patients, and the only one whose memorial services I have attended, was a lovely Jewish man. He taught me a new appreciation for creative cussing. His family was very sweet and warm, and included me in the prayer portion of the evening when I went to sit shiva with them. And the food. So much delicious food. As far as I’m concerned, Jewish people have gotten funerals right. Food, laughter, memories, and prayers said as quickly as possible so you can get back to the food. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/39 "2015-10-18T02:06:28Z")
Mt father-in-law was raised Orthodox, but rebelled at thirteen by sneaking downtown and eating a cheeseburger, and never practiced the religion as a grown-up. So my wife is half-Jewish, but not really Jewish because her mom is a shiksa. But she still gets mad at me if I muse out loud about something like how it’s okay to make cheap Scotsman jokes, but you can’t make cheap Jew jokes. One of my great-great forebears back in the Old Country (Prague) was Jewish, but he was swallowed up by all the goys he married into. I like having a measure of him in my blood because my favorite Czechs are Gustav Mahler and Franz Kafka, who were both Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917/40 "2015-10-18T02:07:01Z")
> [@northporlarbear](#): > > I am circumcised. They cut away the best part of my penis. Now, I can not maximize my gratification anymore (apparently, according to doctors, that part gives you the best pleasure). Like the banned gentleman, my circumcised penis is also my closest Jewish influence. After that, I suppose it’s my family and my rabbi. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-closest-jewish-influence/734917.md?page=3)